Understanding who wants to use public information and why is one of the best things cities can do to improve the impact and relevance of their open data programs. The Sunlight Open Cities team helps city staff develop open data user personas, and we wanted to share some of these personas to spark ideas and inspiration for open data staff in other cities.

In spring 2018, for the first time the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) has begun using the Internet to inform the American public about its ongoing investigations of unauthorized dispositions in an online dashboard. In a year that continues to be marked by regression on open government, this is a welcome development that shines a bright light on a matter of significant public concern.

Today, the Sunlight Foundation endorsed the Special Counsel Transparency Act to preserve evidence and recommendations that result from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation, should President Donald J. Trump fire him.

Unless Congress takes more time to understand and then to craft careful remedies, the emerging challenges for open government that Facebook is implicated in – from automated activity to algorithmic transparency to public speech on private platforms to data ethics and protections to anti-trust concerns to artificial intelligence – will most likely be obscured by more sound and fury emanating from Washington that ultimately signifies nothing.

Facebook and Twitter have endorsed the Honest Ads Act, but Google hasn't come out for the bill yet – and many other companies that run political ads online remain silent. Congress needs to mandate a level playing field for transparency online.

In 2016, after we highlighted missing data and non-compliance with President Obama's Open Government Directive, the agency committed to restoring public information and producing a new plan. Their promise to us and the American people to produce a self-assessment, progress report and plan for transparency and accountability has not been kept. It's time for a reboot.

Transparency in healthcare empowers patients, caregivers, regulators and industry. Health data carries immense potential and serious risks to privacy, however, which means that everyone needs to approach opening it with care. First, do no harm.

After the Regulations.gov API was taken offline for almost two months, it's back, with new restrictions on user accounts and authorization. We don't know, but the EPA's response suggested that misuse was degrading the system.

The new federal website for Freedom of Information Act requests mandated by Congress in 2017 is a gigantic improvement over the previous FOIA.gov, but the upgrade won't fix all that ails that nation's canonical transparency law as Sunshine Week dawns.